v2 - "Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts."
Something hit me about this verse this morning as I was reading it. Over the winter I watched the film Slumdog Millionaire, and a scene from that movie came to mind. It was the scene where children, who were living as slaves,were being used to beg for the benefit of their masters. So I began to do some reading on this story. And one of the interesting things I discovered is that there are several scholars who believe that this beggar was not begging for his own benifit, but was being used by others to beg for money. It's very possible that not only was this man captive to his physical limitations, but that he had never experienced a day of freedom in his entire life. That is until he has a life changing encounter with the power of Jesus Christ at work through Peter & John.
I'm convinced that there are thousands of people living in Tazewell County who have been held captive and are in need of being set free. That's why I'm so excited about our upcoming series "Hostage" that starts in two weeks! We'll be looking at three of the biggest things that hold us captive, and discovering how Jesus Christ can set us free...I can't wait!
One last thought:
v11-12 - "While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them...When Peter saw this, he said to them: 'Men of Israel, why does this suprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?"
I'm reminded here that Peter refused to take any of the credit for what God had done through his ministry. Peter could have said, "Look at what God did through me...if I hadn't been here this man wouldn't have been healed....sure it was God at work, but he worked through me!" But Peter didn't do any of that. He actually realized that what had just taken place had nothing to do with him, and he deflected all the attention back to God. I love that!
Something hit me about this verse this morning as I was reading it. Over the winter I watched the film Slumdog Millionaire, and a scene from that movie came to mind. It was the scene where children, who were living as slaves,were being used to beg for the benefit of their masters. So I began to do some reading on this story. And one of the interesting things I discovered is that there are several scholars who believe that this beggar was not begging for his own benifit, but was being used by others to beg for money. It's very possible that not only was this man captive to his physical limitations, but that he had never experienced a day of freedom in his entire life. That is until he has a life changing encounter with the power of Jesus Christ at work through Peter & John.
I'm convinced that there are thousands of people living in Tazewell County who have been held captive and are in need of being set free. That's why I'm so excited about our upcoming series "Hostage" that starts in two weeks! We'll be looking at three of the biggest things that hold us captive, and discovering how Jesus Christ can set us free...I can't wait!
One last thought:
v11-12 - "While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them...When Peter saw this, he said to them: 'Men of Israel, why does this suprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?"
I'm reminded here that Peter refused to take any of the credit for what God had done through his ministry. Peter could have said, "Look at what God did through me...if I hadn't been here this man wouldn't have been healed....sure it was God at work, but he worked through me!" But Peter didn't do any of that. He actually realized that what had just taken place had nothing to do with him, and he deflected all the attention back to God. I love that!
http://daleschaeffer.blogspot.com/2009/05/acts-3-reflections.html?showComment=1241546040000#c4374977880420107716'> 12:54
Peter's humility is pretty amazing. It's cool to see Peter's spiritual journey throughout scripture to bring him to that place. Good stuff!